


Together

by Emjen_Enla



Series: I’m Holding On; Why is Everything so Heavy? [3]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Announcing They're Dating, Coming Out, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Implied/Referenced Ableism, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 22:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20682779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emjen_Enla/pseuds/Emjen_Enla
Summary: Modern AU. Jesper and Wylan tell Colm they're dating.





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> Someone on Tumblr requested this. It ended up being more of a “Jesper and Wylan tell Colm they’re dating” fic than a “Jesper comes out” fic, but hopefully that's okay. Also hopefully this is good; per usual I sort of feel like it sucks.
> 
> This fic stands alone, but it’s also technically part of the Heavyverse, which is a SoC Modern AU I started a while ago. It’s currently on hiatus and I have no plans of continuing it anytime soon, but when I saw that you were requesting a Modern AU this was where my mind immediately went. If you’re curious about the premise of the AU the first fic in this series a good place to start (its a 9K monster prominently featuring Kaz Brekker wearing a hoodie).
> 
> Warnings: Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Ableism

“Are you ready for this?” Jesper asked when he met Wylan on the sidewalk outside Wylan’s house.

“Sure,” Wylan said. His back was tense and his chin was raised like he was preparing for a fight. Maybe he was. “It can’t go any worse than if I came out to my father.”

That was true. Jan Van Eck made everything worse. “It will be fine,” Jesper said.

“Did Kaz ever get back to you about coming over tonight?” Wylan asked.

“Nope,” Jesper said. “He hasn’t answered my texts all weekend. If I didn’t know better I’d say that he was living a double life.”

Wylan huffed out a little laugh. As one they started walking in the direction of the subway.

“Are you going to get in trouble with your father if you stay out too late tonight?”Jesper asked after they’d gone a couple blocks.

“He’s out of the town for the weekend,” Wylan said, shaking his head. “He’ll be back sometime tomorrow.”

That was a relief. Jesper hated dodging Wylan’s father. If Jan Van Eck had it his way, Wylan wouldn’t have any social life until he didn’t have dyslexia anymore, which obviously wasn’t something that was going to happen. Jesper could only imagine what would happen if Van Eck figured out Wylan was gay.

When Jesper and Kaz had first befriended Wylan, he hadn’t wanted to do anything that might risk his father’s wrath and had refused to interact with them outside of school. Slowly, he had become bolder, however, first by making up excuses about school projects and then by just leaving the house and returning before Van Eck got home from work. Jesper was proud of how daring Wylan was becoming; it appeared he and Kaz were reckless influences.

They entered the subway and boarded a train heading in the direction of Jesper’s house. He and his father lived a good distance from the mansion where Wylan lived with his father so it was a rather long ride. Jesper knew Kaz was jealous of Wylan’s part of town and the financial stability which oozed from its inhabitants, but every time Jesper went there he found himself thankful to return home. Wylan’s family might have a lot of stuff but Jesper didn’t think that made up for all the detriments.

Of course, who knew. Maybe he’d have to change his opinions after tonight. Jesper bit his lip and fidgeted with his key chain. He spun the ring around and around, feeling the part which allowed you to put keys on it catch a little on his keys which each revolution. He was nervous about tonight, though he was trying to be optimistic for Wylan. Jesper’s father knew he was bi, but there was a difference between knowing that your son liked guys and meeting your son’s boyfriend. Jesper was pretty sure it was going to be fine, but he couldn’t help worrying anyway.

No matter what happened, though, it definitely couldn’t go worse than telling Van Eck would.

The subway reached the right stop. They got off and climbed up to street level. Jesper’s house was a couple blocks from here. They walked down the sidewalk side by side, not touching. Jesper kept fiddling with his key chain. All too soon they were standing in front of his house.

They stared up at it for a few minutes, each gathering their nerve. “We can’t keep standing out here,” Wylan said after a while. “We have to go in and get it over with.”

Despite himself, Jesper grinned. He liked how bold Wylan was getting.

Together they climbed up the front steps and let themselves inside. “Da?” Jesper called into the brightly lit house. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” Colm poked his head out of the living room.

Jesper and Wylan made their way down the hall and into the living room. Colm Fahey had the menus for every restaurant that delivered laid out on the coffee table.

“Is it a takeout night?” Jesper asked.

“If that’s alright with you,” Colm said. “We don’t actually have anything to make dinner with. I’ll have to go shopping tomorrow. Hello, Wylan,” he turned to the other boy. “How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Wylan said with a tight smile. He and Kaz had been over at the house many times and therefore Colm knew them both.

“Is something wrong?” Colm asked, his face tightening with concern. “Something with your father?” Jesper wasn’t exactly sure how Colm had figured out Van Eck wasn’t a good guy, because Jesper , Wylan and Kaz never talked about it when anyone else was around, but somehow Colm had.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Jesper said. “We just had something important we wanted to tell you.”

“Alright,” Colm said. He looked worried. Jesper could see his mind racing ahead to all the horrible things that might have happened.

Jesper cleared his throat. _ Just do it and get it over with _. “Da,” he said. “Wy and I thought you should know that we’ve been dating for the past couple months.”

Colm’s face lit up. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. Thank you for telling me.” he grinned at Wylan. “You can’t get better than Jesper and I know Jesper can’t get better than you.”

Wylan turned beat red. Thanks to Van Eck he was basically incapable of taking a compliment. “T-Thank you.”

Jesper wanted to laugh with relief. He hadn’t really expected there to be a problem--there hadn’t been when he’d come out--but he’d worried this would end up like his ADHD which had taken most of his elementary and middle school years for Colm to accept. Maybe the acceptance Colm had found there transferred to other things.

“So, what kind of takeout do you want, Wylan?” Colm asked.

Wylan stepped closer to the coffee table. “Is there Thai?” he asked hopefully.

“Yup, it’s around here somewhere,” Colm began rifling through the menus. “And there’s banana bread for desert.”

“There’s banana bread?” Wylan asked, looking like he was trying to hide how excited he was.

“Yeah,” Colm said. “Do you like banana bread?”

“Yes,” Wyan said. “My mom used to make it all the time.” Then he realized what he’d said and pressed his lips together. Wylan didn’t talk about his mother very often and Jesper didn’t know what had happened to her. He wasn’t sure how to tell when it was the right time to ask.

“Well, you can have as much as you want,” Colm said. It was obvious he knew something had happened with Wylan’s mom, but didn’t want to be nosy and ask what.

“Did Mrs. Morris bring it over?” Jesper asked mostly to dispel the tension.

“Yes, she did,” Colm said. “Just after you left for work.”

“You know, Tiffany Mueller waylaid me the other day to gossip about how she thinks you and Mrs. Morris are having a torrid affair,” Jesper said with a grin.

“But she’s happily married and has half a dozen grandkids!” Colm protested. “She reminds me of your grandma!”

“I know,” Jesper shrugged. “She thinks all the banana bread is proof. I tried explaining that Mrs. Morris only brings it over because her recipe is too big for her and her husband alone and she knows we like it, but Tiffany won’t hear of it.”

“You should see if Mr. and Mrs. Morris are the sort of people who are up for a good-natured prank,” Wylan piped up with a sly grin.

“I think Kaz and I are having a bad influence on you,” Jesper said.

Wylan grinned sheepishly, blushing furious red.

“I found it!” Colm finally pulled the menu for the Thai place out of the pile. “Who wants to look first?”

“I think we’ll look together,” Jesper said and he and Wylan went to sit on the couch together.


End file.
